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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

I realized today that I don't like snow. I take that back, I don't dislike all snow. In fact I like a little snow. The kind that doesn't stick and disappears in a day. Only a few inches is my ideal. But trying to move and get all of the Navy boxes checked off along the way is a huge pain in the backside. Oh who am I kidding, ass. A huge pain in the huge JLo/Kim K./Me sized Ass.

Boo on snow. Boo.

I can't wait to move to Florida where frost is a huge deal. Here in Virginia, there are currently 10 in of snow on the ground. 10 inches! And Norfolk is not equipped to deal with it. Sure the highways, 64 and 264, are nice and cleared, but all of the side streets are going to be solid ice by tomorrow morning and never be cleared. That makes getting paper work finished, organizing our movers, and getting cars weighed a lot harder. I hope this is the last time we have to move during a snow storm. The odds are definitely not in out favor right now, but I hope we can at least hit the road by Friday.

Did I mention we are getting more snow tonight? I might blow a gasket. Good thing I have wine to dull my snow induced anger right now. Wish me luck! I am going to need it. Grrr. Drink, drink, drunk. I think I feel better now :)

Thursday, January 23, 2014

I am writing this post on my phone because it is time. The movers are here! No more internet, cable, beds, or dishes for this family. We are ready to pack up this place. Let's hope everything we have in this house right now, makes it to Florida! Wish us luck!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

We had a little winter storm last night and it left us a good 4 inches of snow today. It is gorgeous. Snow is still a huge novelty to me. Growing up in South Texas doesn't lend itself to much snow appreciation days. The closest thing to a snow day in Corpus was the occasional Hurricane Day growing up. Yeah, those are real. So what did I do today to celebrate the falling of winter wonder from the sky? I woke up early and took Luna for a nice long walk before it turned into slush. I know I am crazy. This is most likely the last snow we will see for three years so I wanted to enjoy it; no matter how cold I was!

My little cutie. Did yall get any of the storm? What did you do with your snow day?

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Hubby and I both love Washington DC. It was one of the first cities I ever left Texas to visit as a teenager and I was completely in awe of the monuments, museums, memorials, and traditions associated with DC. Hubby went to college at G.W. right in the heart of the city. He spent some of the best years of his life there and made some of the most amazing friends. His friends are honestly one of the reasons I fell in love with him. You can always tell a person by the company they keep, and he keeps some fantastic company. Even at our wedding, the best man, Tim, gave his speech and called up all the guys to help. You can't beat that kind of friendship and loyalty.

Oh memories

So naturally, this past weekend was definitely the most bitter sweet time that we have spent in DC. We were saying bye to honestly some of the best people I have ever met. Especially now that the guys have wives, fiances, girlfriends, and babies that I absolutely adore. It makes saying good bye even harder.

We started with a Birthday/Homecoming/Bon Voyage brunch at Old Ebbitt Grill that was fantastic. If you are ever in DC and hungry for not only delicious food, go there. You will not be disappointed! The gentleman sitting on my right was our 'welcome home' guy Tom. He has been stationed overseas in Japan for the last three years and everyone was so glad to have him back stateside.

Almost the whole gang at brunch

Hubby and Tim, the Birthday Boy

Sweet victory!

After day drinking...I mean brunch...we moved on down memory lane and headed to the guys' college hang outs: Froggy Bottom Pub and Buffalo Billiards.

They moved to a new fancy location. No more basement dive bar.

Look! Actual glass cups!

Not everyone was thrilled about the changes. Sorry Bob.

I found out I am terrible at shuffle board

I will miss that crazy bunch, but it won't be long until we are all going to meet up again. We have two weddings in the books so far for this year and everyone has invitations. I just can't wait until someone gets sick of the cold weather and decides they want a beach vacation. I've already starting bribing them with free room & board and a DD if they come to Pensacola! lol. I hope someone takes us up on the offer sooner rather then later. Yall know you're sick of the snow! Come on down to the beach!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Time to link up with Darci, Christina, April, and Natasha for another round of 5 on Friday! I cannot believe this week is over already. It went by really, really fast. I think it is because I have been running around everyday this week trying to get things done before the 14th because that's our "ten days till packing up mark". Oh wait...crap... today's the 17th and I still have things on the list. Damn that list. It keeps on getting longer every day.

{One}
This is not my list but one I found on Pinterest earlier this month that has been so helpful. Some of the tips I have no say in (Research movers? Nope. The Navy assigns them.) While others, I completely would have forgotten about (Preorder new checks with your new address, genius!) Listotic, yall are lifesavers.

{Two}

I had more then a couple of these to help power me through the week. How many exactly? Let's just say I paid the power bill at the location by my house and at one point I am pretty sure I could hear colors.

{Three}

Hubby is finally getting his own 'I Love Me Room' in the new house and he wants one of these to bring the whole 'guy room' vibe full circle.

An I Love Me Room is like a man cave on military steroids. It will be filled with all of his plaques, pictures and work related goodies to be proudly displayed and awed over. I have to admit though, I kind of like these globes.

I wish I could say this weekend is just going to be us three sitting around the house and slowly de-cluttering but nope not us. We are hitting the road as soon as Hubby comes home and we are off on another road trip. Thankfully we are not going cross country this time, just three hours north to Washington DC. It will be our last time in that beautiful city for a while. We have a Birthday to celebrate, a Homecoming for a friend that has been in Japan the past three years and our own Bon Voyage party. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures this time. Now we are off to begin our travels. Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

I finally starting the process of taking down the Christmas decorations. By that I mean that I assembled the necessary boxes for storage and brought them out of the garage. It's a process people. But I did take down the garland around the chalkboard in our entryway and I even erased it and drew a Valentine's Day message. See, I did something productive on the De-Christmas-ing of the house. It used to look like this:

Now it looks like this:

Not too shabby I say. Not too shabby. But I do wonder: Why can't it be socially acceptable to just change out your ornaments for hearts & cherubs on your Christmas tree? Imagine how nice that would be to never have to take it down, just change it up. Shamrocks and American Flags. Firecrackers and Jack O Lanterns. I wish. Oh well, gotta get back to that tree. Are you decorating for Valentine's day? What crafts/recipes are you planning on making for such a love filled holiday?

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

I cook a lot of Italian food. Like, A Lot. You would swear I was Italian by all of the pastas, meatballs and sauces that come out of my kitchen. My love for it only increased when I came back from Italy last year. Every other meal was insalata caprese or at least something topped with buffalo mozzarella. Oh baby it was bad.

So now I am going back to my own ethnic roots (Latina baby!) and sharing my recipe for shrimp enchiladas. This is a recipe that I created one day when I was craving Mexican food. Living in southern Virginia doesn't really align itself with delicious Tex-Mex food, so I was left to my own devices to satisfy that craving. I tinkered with a recipe a bit and made this one that isn't too spicy. So everyone, even me, would love it.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

I think I found the direction for my new office/craft room. I want to keep everything as light and airy as possible for our new house. Most of our stuff now is heavy and dark (most of it was Hubby's before we got married, you know how that goes) and I want to try to add a slightly feminine touch to our new spaces.

So, I kind of raided the Dot & Bo website today and loaded up my cart with a whole bunch of goodies that I love but frankly cannot afford them all. These are the catches that are not only adorable but affordable. Nothing on this list is over 35 bucks!

1. That clock. I love an old fashioned alarm clock, but I can only find them in plain silver and I have no way of cracking the face open to paint it without possibly destroying it. This one is perfect for that little bit of color in an all white room.

2. Glass candy dish. It had been making the Pinterest rounds a few months ago and I finally found where I can buy it. Yay! Get ready anyone who walks into my crafty space, you will leave with a handful of sour skittles.

3. Gold scratch map. I am very guilty of taking pictures on trips and they stay either on my phone or make it to print and live in drawers to never be seen. This is the perfect way to not only display our travels but keep an eye on the places we haven't been to yet. And imagine how satisfying would it be to get home and scratch another country off!

4. Yellow accessory tray. I am not sure if it is a large cat, a badger or what but I love the color of this catch-all tray. It would go along perfectly with that clock.

5. Cities desk calendar. Who wouldn't love to look at a new, gorgeous drawing of a fabulous city every month? That 50s, 60s map design is one of my favorite styles of art. It is feminine but still very Mad Men. I think Hubby will like it. And even if he doesn't, it's going in my space anyway. lol.

Friday, January 10, 2014

This week has been an up and down kind of week, full of highs and lows but learning moments all along the way.

{1} I found my new piece of artwork /slash/ mantra for the new year. I love it. Simple. Elegant. Truthful.

{2} We found our new house in Florida! I think it is a little bit of Pleasantville. It will definitely be my working project for the next few months, and I will definitely be posting all about the moving-decorating-furniture reworking for each room. It will be a step by step process but I cannot wait to start it.

This will be Luna's new puppy park! I love this backyard.

{3} I am deeply neglecting taking down the Christmas decorations. The tree is still up as well as garland and stockings. We just got home two days ago. We need to go through all of our laundry and get our routines back before we attack those goodies. But ugh, I don't wanna. Would it be rude to ask the movers to pack it up? That's a legit question right?

{4} I did my very first #throwbackthursday yesterday. I know, I know. I am way behind in that game. But at least I made it a good one. I think I am about 3 years old and I am wearing my favorite dress and costume jewelry. But the real kicker was those bangs. I cut them all by myself. I was so proud of the lop-sided off-ness. Yep, right before picture day. I am sure my mother was so proud of her budding hair stylist daughter that day.

{5} Hubby has his Hail and Bail party tomorrow, and I am actually kind of sad about it. Our time here in Norfolk is all over. I am going to miss this place. I am going to miss the friends I made here even more. The ladies I met here are the ones who know exactly what it is like to have this crazy lifestyle. And these are the friends that I know I will see again. It may be in a few months or a few years but we are all destined to meet again. The Navy is a small, small place and that is one of the things I love the most about these friendships. They are the ones that no matter how much time has passed, you pick up right where you left off. Those are the friendships that last a lifetime. And with all of the craziness that has happened in this community these past few days, friends and love are what helps you through it all.